The walking and Jake's physical suffering continued for quite some time, longer than Jake was used to. The lack of Maedra in the tunnel didn't quite correlate to the overwhelming stench of rot in the air and the extensive walking without pause was causing his feet to burn. He had expected to come in contact with something by now but the longer they walked, the less likely he felt that potential would come to fruition. The only upside to their long walk was the occasional reprieve he was given by Helena's regenerative magic.

Darius was intent on keeping up their pace but Jake's body could only take so much. His muscles weren't as defined or prepared to carry the weight of his pack. On top of that, the rocky and uneven terrain wasn't great on his feet. While he could keep pace, he could only do so for short distances before needing to rest. Darius had allowed for a few stops in the beginning so Jake could drink and breathe but the Elf had a timetable in his head that he wanted them to meet. Helena had suggested lightening Jake's pack with magic but Darius stubbornly denied it. He wanted Jake to be capable of carrying such a burden without magic. The next solution was to keep Jake's stamina up and help boost his recovery, something that would promote the growth of his muscles and stamina without sacrificing the workload.

And now here he was. Stuck in a constant loop of being healed to practically dying as Darius guided them all down the seemingly never-ending tunnel. They had been walking for far longer than Jake could keep track of, to the point that even Lydia had requested to be given some rejuvenating attention as her feet were getting sore. Darius's golden eyes stared forward and his ears frequently twitched ever so slightly as he maintained an acute awareness of his surroundings. Jake tried to maintain his own as well. However, the weight on his back and the pain in his muscles made it difficult to focus. He was slowly growing used to the weight but such strength would not come immediately. He simply was learning how to cope with it. The best way he had learned was to shut off his brain and stare at the back of Darius's calves. That way all Jake needed to do was focus on placing one foot in front of the other.

"Delmuth?" Helena suddenly spoke, her voice cutting the monotony of the tunnel. Darius was already slowing, eventually coming to a stop as he stared down the tunnel. Helena and Lydia both went eerily quiet, stopping well behind the Elf as they stared at him. Jake wasn't quite sure what was happening, and he was also in the middle of cycles, so he found himself coming to a stuttering halt in the middle.

"Drop rucks," Darius called. He grabbed the strap of his pack and tossed it carefully but hastily off to his left. Helena and Lydia did the same, and Jake grumbled as he stumbled to the wall to shed the weight. His shoulders ached and his back tensed up. Even with the fresh freedom of movement, the wear on his body made him stiff. He stretched his neck, tried to loosen up his back and shoulders, and carefully flexed his arms to get the blood flowing into his fingers.

"Should I help him recover?" Helena asked, looking down at Jake. She raised a finger, ready to draw the rune if necessary. Darius shook his head.

"Not yet, but be ready to," Darius drew the two blades from his waist and then turned his attention to Jake.

"Why not?" Jake groaned. He grabbed the hilts of his weapons and tugged on them, but they failed to come from. "I'm a bit tired here," he whined. Darius didn't flinch and just stared at him.

"You won't always get the chance to rest, kid," Darius huffed and twirled his blades. "You remember what I said, right?" he asked. Jake sighed and tugged his swords free.

"Sword Singer only?" Jake rumbled, working out the lingering kinks in his body. He took a few swings with his daggers to get the feeling back and continued to wiggle his limbs a bit, stretching and getting them as loose as he could.

"Correct. Helena, keep an eye on him." Darius threw a glance toward the mage and she nodded. Then, Darius turned around to face the tunnel again. He took a few steps forward before raising his left hand and sword.

"I certainly can try," Helena gave Jake a smile as she drew a single rune in the air. The moment it triggered, Jake felt the tension in his muscles lessen. The sweat that was stuck to his skin faded, the wearing feeling in his knees dissipated, and the boy felt a bit of clarity return to his mind as the fog wore off. Helena winked, and Jake inaudible thanked her with a brief bow of his head. Lydia looked up warily towards Helena, but the woman placed a finger to her lips.

Jake stepped up to Darius's hip and gripped his daggers with renewed vigor. Now that the soreness in his body was gone, Jake could fight without concern. While he still felt uneasy about utilizing the Sword Singer style with so little practice- he would need to get a grip quickly if he wanted to be effective. And with no magic to help him in a pinch, he would need to keep himself from falling into old habits.

"Biggest rule of a Sword Singer," Darius said almost in a whisper. Jake raised an eyebrow and looked up at him. "Don't get isolated."

"That's a stupid rule," Jake muttered. Darius huffed.

"And why is that?" The Elf asked as the sound of a distant screech echoed into the tunnel. Helena drew a rune quickly into the air, a light rune, and then fired an illumination sphere down the tunnel. It shot forth, tearing through the dark until it cut into a horde of distant Maedra. It crashed into one of them, knocking it backwards and gaining its attention. The light was snuffed out by the impact, but the task was done.

"I do my best work when I've got nothing else to worry about," Jake grinned and his eyes narrowed slightly as he took his stance. One blade in front, one blade to the back. Feet staggered, the rear turned at an angle. Hips settled, knees bent. The boy clutched his right dagger and licked his lips, hungry for the carnage.

"That makes two of us," Darius chuckled. At their backs, Helena's finger danced through the air as she drew a dozen light runes, carving the open space with mana as she filled the tunnel ahead with spheres of light. The Maedra at the far end were caught in the light storm and began to race towards the source of the light. They picked up the smell of mana and charged toward the party, their cries echoing through the stone.

"Don't let a single one through," Darius surged forward first, his feet light and swift as his body accelerated. The Elf was a swift runner, his lanky legs carrying him deftly.

Jake wasn't quite ready for that kind of speed out of the Elf, especially since Darius seemed so lazy and lethargic all the time. Maybe it was just a ruse or a way for the Elf to keep energy for such moments. Either way, Jake would do as told. He checked behind him to see where Helena and Lydia were, and Helena was quick to wave him along. Jake didn't hesitate and raced to catch up to his new teacher.

By the time Jake reached the front of the horde, Darius had cut through three of them. His long and thin blades carved through the bodies of the Maedra. He hacked off limbs before splicing open their chests and piercing their mana crystal hearts. His golden eyes shimmered, wholly focused on the surrounding threat. When in a pinch, the Elf's blades cleanly found and shattered the crystals within the Maedra's chests, creating a brief gap for him to reset. Jake picked out his first kill just as Darius eliminated two more.

"Be fast! Waste no swing!" Darius shouted over the brain-rattling screeching and thunderous feet. The horde was of medium size, thirty to forty strong. The closeness of the tunnel's walls limited their ability to attack at once, however, and funneled the large group to only four or five at a time. With Darius quickly handling his share on the left, Jake took position on his right. Quickly and fluidly, Jake's hands began to work.

The first Maedra was the boldest and the easiest. It followed the progressions Jake needed to go through as it lunged with a heavy, hammer-like arm to try to crush Jake underneath. Jake parried and pushed the hammer-like arm out of his path and then briskly cut across its exposed torso. As the beast recoiled, Jake's weapons cut across, slicing another two lines and further opening its chest. The boy spotted a shimmer, a trace of its heart crystal. Then, As the Maedra stomped to regain its footing- Jake jammed his dagger through the Maedra's chest. The crystal shattered and the Maedra slumped over. However, there was no reprieve. The next was on him.

Jake retracted his blade and sidestepped, twisting his body out of the path of a swiftly swung arm. He twisted back and sliced downwards, cutting at the elbow to dismember his foe. As his blade dropped, the boy kept his vision up and wide. Another Maedra swung at him from his right, and he turned and deflected the incoming blow. Slicing and stabbing, he cut the Maedra's chest open before piercing its crystal heart. He turned to his original foe as it took a step forward and used the momentum to bring both of his daggers across his body, cutting the Maedra's incoming arm and slicing into its chest. There was no crystal, so Jake lurched forward, cut once more in an X-shape. Still not seeing it, he twisted his wrists to retrace the lines. This brought forth the crystal and Jake shattered it with a swift jab with his right dagger.

Jake landed with his right foot forward which put his back to the horde. A planned move. He cranked his hips and began to twist, utilizing the motion to jump away a few feet, and avoided his back being gouged open. Landing smoothly, he pivoted to reface the horde, resetting his feet beneath him.

"Like that, boy, but faster!" Darius similarly created space, but he did so by kicking a melting corpse into his bunch.

Before the two of them could refill the gap, the air overhead heated up and flared to life as fire rained down onto the rear of the Maedra numbers. Several screeches billowed out as the mixed stench of burning and melting flesh filled the air. Jake didn't need to look behind him to know who the culprit was, and he was thankful for the help. Pushing once more into the wave, Jake's fingers wrapped even tighter around his weapons.

"Second technique!" Darius shouted, calling for Jake's attention. The boy was quick to cut through his foe, slicing off the Maedra's arm, gouging its head in, and then he carved a vertical line straight up the Maedra's middle. When the crystal appeared, it was swiftly dealt with. Jake then glanced to his left.

Meeting his eyes in between swings, Darius stomped forward and twisted his body almost awkwardly downward. His front blade just barely grazed the earth before he violently raised it to the sky. The high velocity behind the whipping motion turned the sword into a razor as it split open the front of its target violently, the Maedra's torso bursting open with gore. His right arm followed behind his left, shadowing the motion as it further opened the wound. Darius's body righted, his wrists twisted, and he brought both blades down. The motion lopped off both of the Maedra's arms, leaving it fully exposed to a dual piercing of its visible mana crystal. It all happened in a blink and Darius was already moving to the next Maedra, his swords causing a mist of blood to fill the air.

Such speed and accuracy. Jake couldn't hope to match Darius's skill just yet. However, he could do his damnedest to try. However, first, he needed to set up his foe lest he fail to perform the technique properly. Jake quickly parried, sliced, and stabbed his way through one Maedra. Then, he twisted away from another, ducked beneath a second swing, and then locked his blades to catch the returning, lumbering arm of the next beast. He shoved the creature back into the horde, jumped back briskly as others moved to replace it, and then stepped forward to try his hand.

However, the technique was odd. With the Maedra coming towards him so quickly and his movements sluggish due to a lack of practice, Jake's left arm didn't fully cross his body nor could he twist as Darius had. Thus, he made up for that lack with natural speed and an additional swing. He raised and dropped his left hand, cutting into his foe and forcing it to stagger. Then, he rotated his wrist and carried both arms upwards, replicating Darius's movement. His left blade was a bit wide and cut open a second line but the right deepened the initial wound. Seeing the crystal already exposed and with another Maedra about to make a move, Jake rotated his left elbow backward and then buried his weapon into the beast's chest. Its crystal shattered and Jake swiftly retreated.

"It's hard to practice with so many!" Jake shouted over the noise. With Helena raining fire down on the rear Maedra, those in front were beginning to frenzy. They clawed and clambered over one another, a wall of meat gurgling and bubbling as it rumbled forward. The bodies of the dead were crushed beneath the hungry mouths climbing over top. Jake and Darius were being pushed back steadily. However, that was why they had run so far ahead of their mage. There was still plenty of space between the front line and their support element so there was no reason to fret, yet.

"Figure it out!" Darius retorted, lopping off the head of a beast before shattering the heart of another. He wasn't able to finish off the headless one before he too hopped away from the horde. "It doesn't have to be perfect, just be swift and agile. You'll learn."

"Do I have to follow the techniques?!" Jake groaned as they both lunged into the Maedra. The two had reset their feet and the Maedra line had reformed. Moving forward and then backward gave the two more awareness of their surroundings, helped the two synchronize their kills, established their 'bubbles', and coerced the Maedra to create smoother lines of bodies. If Jake and Darius fought in place for too long, the Maedra would eventually surround and engulf them in meat. Jumping away kept them from being surrounded.

"The techniques are guidelines!" Darius spat through heavy exhales. His curved, shimmering Elven blades slide smoothly through the fatty meat of the Maedra before him. It reached out to grab him. Then, it lost its hands. Two arms cut at the elbow dropped to the floor below with a thud, and the Maedra's corpse soon followed. "They help you move smoothly without stopping. That is your focus!"

"So dancing?!" Jake grunted, twisting his body out of the way of another swing before he was forced to step back. He caught a swing from a Maedra, then shoved his blade forward into its chest. He missed the crystal, as he hadn't gotten a look at its position. The Maedra let out a high-pitched wail and tried to grab him but the boy dropped his ass to his ankles before powerfully kicking himself out of harm's way. He rolled over his head, lifted onto his toes, and eyed his targets. When he lunged forward to face them, he did so in a flurry. He cut down the Maedra for sure this time, dismembered another, and then beheaded a third. Before he could kill the two of them, he created space in time with Darius.

"Dancing!" Darius shouted. The Elf let out a long breath through clenched teeth and then stood upright. He checked his blades briefly for any damage before settling his eyes on the Maedra again. A blue wall of mana appeared in the gap, blocking the Maedra from advancing as more fire rained down over the top of it. In the brief pause they were given, Helena quickly cast recovery magic on the two. Jake was thankful. His arms were getting tired.

"Why aren't they called Sword Dancers then?" Jake asked in their moment of silence. Darius's face contorted and he visibly choked.

"Because that sounds stupid," Darius said flatly. When he looked at Jake, the disgusted look in his eyes gave off the impression that he was on the verge of vomiting.

"...huh?" Jake blinked and his jaw opened slightly. "Sword Singer sounds worse!"

The two looked at each other, Darius staring at Jake blankly. Jake staring at Darius with confusion.

"How dare you," Darius spat.

"Wha-" Jake's mouth opened to speak but the best he could muster was barely a noise. He honestly couldn't believe what he had heard. Then again, Darius was an Elf. They certainly were different from Humans, so maybe it was a cultural thing.

"Gentlemen!" Helena shouted as the barrier dropped. Jake and Darius both turned forward and lunged once more into the fray, their bodies fresh as they returned to their duty. Jake was the first to move, this time.

The boy took a powerful step forward before he was immediately engaged by two Maedra- one on his left and one on his right. Instinct told him to draw upon his mana, and he naturally started to gather it. However, the instant pain that gathered in his hip reminded him that magic wasn't on the table. The boy clenched his teeth and jerked backward as the Maedra collapsed on his position. They bashed into one another and Jake took advantage. His blades twirled as he took a reverse grip on them, and then he plunged them into the skulls of the Maedra. With no bones making up their insides, the heads were nothing more than fleshy meat.

The impacts drove the Maedra to the floor, and Jake quickly retrieved his weapons and backed off once more. Doing so exposed Darius's right side, and since the Elf was still fighting- Jake was forced to jump back in as the Maedra behind the initial two pressed forward.

"Not good!" Without magic, correcting his mistake would take precision, something the Sword Singer style didn't have...

"No, it does!" Jake fixed the hold on his blades, bringing them forward as he adjusted his hips. The two Maedra on the floor rose onto their hands and knees as two others attempted to climb over their backs. Jake took that moment to strike. He took his jump forward and brought his swords across his face, and across the faces of the two Maedra on top. Their heads were split open down the middle, their wailing mouths gurgling as the gooey blood filling their rotting corpses bubbled and squirted from the exposed vessels.

After his initial strike, Jake rotated his wrists, raised his right arm back and above his head, and aligned his left arm across his chest. Then, like a whip, Jake snapped his arms to his left and rotated his torso and hips in tune with one another. The violent motion, the speed of the blades, and the sweeping motion sent his left blade through the head of the first Maedra, and his right through the neck of the second. The boy twisted like a top, spinning around and kicking his feet as he rotated his body, carrying the momentum as he whirled his weapons viciously. As he landed on his toes, he landed low, knees bent and blades out like barred fangs. The Maedra, headless and disoriented, lumbered forward aimlessly and into Jake's waiting reach.

Just before he lurched forward into his flurry, Jake felt the hair on his neck raise. His muscles seized and the boy withheld himself from jumping in, leaning into his senses. Something felt off-

"Step aside!" Helena's voice echoed into Jake's ear. The boy didn't hesitate and took a step away from the Maedra before distancing himself to his right. Just as he did, a barrage of orange flame filled the space he had stood in. The four Maedra he was dealing with were blasted apart by a flurry of fireballs, their bodies decimated and blown apart by the spells. Jake pressed his back against the wall of the tunnel, his eyes widening as he felt the heat scorch passed his face.

"Thanks!" As the spells ended, Darius and Jake both peeled away from their respective side of the tunnel to retake their positions in the middle. Due to the spell, the number of remaining Maedra had been whittled down. Helena's overhead barrages were doing significant damage to the Maedra back line, while Darius was making easy work of the Maedra on his side. Jake was handling himself but his onesies and twosies were barely enough to make a dent. He was killing but not killing fast enough. On top of that, he was feeling the drag. His swings were heavy and doing damage, but he could feel the loss of speed with his motions. He could feel the drag on his mind.

When using magic, Jake could obliterate his foes without much physical exertion. He could regulate his muscles and physical stamina to keep himself in the fight. He could even expand his senses and fill the air with mana to pick up on the enemy all around him. Without all of that, just fighting a few Maedra at a time was making him tired. He was having to pause more often, step back and jump forward. He had to transition from one to the next rather than take multiple at once, and each cut needed to be done precisely and with intent. There was no room for wasted energy. Not when every swing was important.

"Tough, isn't it?" Darius said from his left. Jake let out a tired breath and gripped the hilts of his blades, his eyes narrowing as he eyed the remaining Maedra. There were forty or so when they started. Now there was less than half of that.

"Yea," Jake admitted. Darius nodded.

"Don't let up. If you want to live, give it all you've got," the Elf said. Then, Darius moved forward again. Jake took in a deep breath, sucking it in through his teeth and his nose. He steadied his mind, steadied the beating of his racing heart, and steeled his mind.

"All you've got, huh?" Jake glanced to his left as Darius's blades collected two hungry arms before slicing them off with swift swings of his glistening elven blades. Jake then looked up as more fire rained down overhead. He let out a faint chuckle, eyed the Maedra, and then stepped forward once more.

All he had. That's all it would take but Jake had a feeling that when it came to the Maedra- all he had would never be enough. Their incessant and relentless drive forward was impossible to match if he remained how he currently was. They were truly beasts in every sense of the word, and Jake understood what it meant to match such instinctual creatures. To truly crush the Maedra, Jake would have to become something far, far worse. All he had was just the tip of what that meant.

But, it would do for now. Jake stepped into the fray, his blades cutting and hacking. Slicing and splitting. Blood, spittle, and mucus drenched his clothes. Fat from each cut stuck to his blades for only moments before being whisked away by the air Jake cut through. The wails of the Maedra slowly faded from the tunnel. Sweat mixed with rot filled the air until slowly, the rotting flesh burned and faded as the mana crystal hearts dissolved to dust.

From forty strong to a whisper in the wind, the Maedra horde was cut to nothing. Helena cast the final rune, eliminating the last Maedra she could safely target. Darius finished his share and then Jake utilized the open space to eliminate his last three. Utilizing the Sword Singer stance to his peak, the boy's blades nimbly worked through the remaining foes until they were truly done.

As the last Maedra screeched and collapsed, Jake took a few staggering steps back before he too knelt to the floor. His clothes were soaked through with a mixture of liquids. The cloth straps on his weapons were soaked, slick, and his hands gripped them so tightly that his fingers had cramped closed around them. Just letting go of the blades hurt. The boy peeled his fingers off and stared at his two daggers as they clattered onto the ground. He looked at his hands, groaning slightly from the discomfort he felt in them.

The skin was raw. His palms were red, scrapped, and his fingers were bleeding just a bit in the creases where his joints bent. His wrists were stiff, and his forearms ached. He was missing his right pinky nail. It likely was torn off at some point during the fight somehow. The boy grimaced and tried to wiggle his fingers, attempting to work them out of their stiffened state so that he could use them again.

"Good work, boy." Darius stepped up to Jake's side and looked down at him. "Those look rough. Want Helena to clean you up?" the Elf asked.

While being healed sounded smart and wise, the boy stared at his hands with a sense of pride. At some point during the fighting, Helena's healing practically stopped. She had energized him and Darius in the beginning. However, once they had established their line and began to duel with the Maedra, she had shifted to casting fire spells. That left Jake to deal with managing his body on his own. He was tired and quite worn out because of it. But, oddly enough, it felt... nice.

It felt good to feel tired, to feel like he had achieved something. During the fight, Jake relied a lot on the Sword Singer style. He forced himself to take the initial stance at every point he could. He worked on parrying and deflecting, on slicing and stabbing. He paired the motions together, added in his own, and adopted the technique Darius had shown him. His adoption wasn't perfect nor was it anything as spectacular and elegant as Darius, but it worked. Jake had survived with only a few scrapes and scratches. No lost limbs. No broken bones. No glaring wounds.

For his first fight without magic, while it had crept up on him when he was in a pinch, Jake found it fairly easy. Once he had started slashing and cutting, the boy had almost entirely forgotten about his magic. All he worried about was how to best use his blades to kill the next target. It was simple and took little mental energy, but the wear on his body was far higher. While Magic would require him to think, see, and feel the battlefield. Using only blades required a different kind of focus, an awareness of his position and his foes. It forced him to plan his movements, to avoid getting himself in a pinch. It forced him to think of what his next step would be as a wrong move could place him in harm's way. And unlike with magic- there was no out if he found himself in too deep.

"Darius," Jake said, garnering the attention of the Elf. Jake leaned forward and reached out for his daggers. He forced his hands open and winced as he grabbed their handles. The boy took in a slow breath and then stood up. "Sword Singers... Are they mages first, or second?"

Darius stared at him for a moment, but he wasn't thinking of the answer itself. The Elf was thinking of how to best present it.

"Neither," he finally said. Jake smirked and then proceeded to wipe his blades off on his pants. He sheathed them and turned to face the Elf.

"Thought so," Jake said with a chuckle.

"Interesting for you to notice," Darius cleaned his own weapons off on his sleeves before he too put them away. He quickly walked to his pack and began to put it on. Helena and Lydia were already walking up with theirs.

"It was hard not to," Jake huffed as he grabbed his own pack. He rolled it over and then sat down next to it, slinking his arms through the straps while sitting against it. He was about to roll onto his hands and knees to push himself upright when Darius stepped in front of him. The Elf looked down at the boy, a very slight upturn to his lips as he extended a hand. Jake grinned and reached out, gripping Darius's hand firmly. Darius pulled and Jake pushed, the boy smoothly raising up to his feet with both of their strength.

"Sword Singers are true Elven Warriors. There are no mages in the ranks of those who use the blade," Darius said, straightening his back as he spoke. He looked proud of what he said. Jake didn't blame him.

"Sorry for being so stubborn," Jake rumbled. His left hand curled, his thumb rubbing roughly against the side of his hand as he tried to distract himself and ease the feeling of embarrassment. Darius placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly as he leaned down just a bit.

"You are young. It's expected. Just don't be too difficult." Darius roughly planted his hand on top of Jake's head before giving it a violent ruffling. Then, the Elf pulled away and turned towards their other companions. "How do you feel?" He asked, looking at Helena.

"Tired but I can keep walking for a bit further," Helena answered. Lydia looked up at her warily and then looked at Darius.

"Her mana is thin, Delmuth," Lydia snitched. Helena whacked the halfling with her staff. Jake raised an eyebrow as the halfling whimpered and rubbed at the new bruise.

"We'll go a bit further and then rest," Darius declared. As everyone nodded in agreement, each of them feeling the recoil of such a drawn-out fight, Darius led the way into the tunnel. Jake fell in on his heels, shouldering his back high and leveling his eyes on the backs of the Elf's legs. Helena and Lydia maintained their position at the rear, trailing a few paces behind Jake.

They quickly exited the battle zone, leaving behind dozens of shattered mana crystals and scorch marks burned into the rock.